Friday, July 26, 2002

Muslim non-integration: Bruce Bawer has an extensive exposition of the European/Muslim immigrant tensions. In some countries Muslims have "ghetto-ized" themselves in order avoid having to abide by Western ideas of civil behavior and individual human rights. The leaders of the Muslim communities make all kinds of rationalizations but the simple truth is they want to continue the same oppression of women, non-Muslims, and others that they enjoyed back in the old country. I have a couple of points I would like to make about that.

1) There is a limit to freedom of religion. In a pluralistic society the civil rights of society trump freedom of religion. In this regard all religious traditions are on an equal footing. I can't speak for other countries but in the American system the particulars of what conduct is allowed by law can be changed if enough people want to change them. If any sub-group within the society wants to change the rules they are free to compete in the arena of ideas. If the change can be justified to enough people it can become the law. But until that happens the sub-group is obliged to abide by the existing laws. Rapists can and should be criminally prosecuted. Men that imprison their wives and daughters should also be prosecuted. If they want to behave in these ways in the name of their religion they can emigrate to some other country where these things are not seen as criminal. I remember the adjustment a Mexican immigrant father had to make when he came to this country. We had to convince him that he couldn't beat his daughter in this country like he was free to do in Mexico. He had to decide whether to change his behavior so he could stay out of jail in the US or return to Mexico. In the end he decided that living in this country was worth making the change. Muslims must make similar decisions. Historically we have tended to err on the side of permissiveness when immigrants brought in practices that the mainstream found to be unappealing to say the least. I think the days of that permissiveness are numbered and more Americans are going to demand that religious minorities adhere to the law of the land or accept the consequences.

2) Having said that I think there is some profound international and cultural conflict on the horizon. The West will stand more and more in opposition to the denial of human rights that are exercised in countries with a Muslim culture. Granted that the economic and strategic considerations will color this conflict. This will be a major conflict which may involve a fair bit of armed conflict.

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